Cassette Tape Sales On The Rise

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It appears vinyl is not the only old school media making a comeback. The sale of cassette tapes is on the rise.

Some say the sale of existing cassettes is up 46 percent.

Former DJ Rodney Clay says he knew this day would come. Clay still plays his old cassettes full of songs he recorded from the radio.

He’s found a place where he can go and feed his hunger for the now classic cassette tape.

“I went into cheapo right there on Lake Street and they have all the type of cassettes,” Clay said.

Inside Cheapo there are countless cassette tapes for sale. But who is buying them?

“They still have cassette players in their car you know they are walking around with their walkmans and its sort of nostalgic and we have so many of them they’re really cheap that’s why so many people like them,” said Cheapo employee Nick Murawski.

Murawski said people over 30 are looking for tapes.

“It takes you back reminds everyone of their youth,” said Murawski.

It’s not brand new but it’s affordable, $2 to $3 each.

There are some younger music buffs that have discovered the cassette tape, for the college age group it can be cheaper than downloading your favorites.

“A lot of time on line its 99 cents per track but then that’s a digital file you don’t actually have the physical product in your hand so if your computer crashes and you haven’t backed it up its gone and you have to downloaded it again you have to pay for it again,” Murawski said.

A lot of small bands find it a lot less expensive to put their music on them as opposed to CDs or vinyl.

Even local groups are deciding to do it yourself. Cheapo has a small section dedicated to sales of local music on cassette tape.

“People just like to have it liner notes, pictures, it’s cool stuff,” Murawski said.

Stuff that seems to just take a back seat to new technology but never seems to go away completely.

If you don’t have a cassette player to play your tapes in don’t worry, most places where the tapes are sold, also sell players.